I, on the other hand, am not overly worried: after all, the voting booths have already been hacked by a political elite comprised of Republicans and Democrats who are determined to retain power at all costs.

The outcome is a foregone conclusion: the police state will win and “we the people” will lose.

The damage has already been done.

The DHS, which has offered to help “secure” the nation’s elections, has already helped to lock down the nation.

Remember, the DHS is the agency that ushered in the domestic use of surveillance drones, expanded the reach of fusion centers, stockpiled an alarming amount of ammunition, urged Americans to become snitches through a “see something, say something” campaign, oversaw the fumbling antics of TSA agents everywhere, militarized the nation’s police, spied on activists and veterans, distributed license plate readers and cell phone trackers to law enforcement agencies, contracted to build detention camps, carried out military drills and lockdowns in American cities, conducted virtual strip searches of airline passengers, established Constitution-free border zones, funded city-wide surveillance cameras, and generally turned our republic into a police state.

So, no, I’m not falling for the government’s scare tactics about Russian hackers.

I’m not losing a night’s sleep over the thought that this election might by any more rigged than it already is.

And I’m not holding my breath in the hopes that the winner of this year’s particular popularity contest will save us from government surveillance, weaponized drones, militarized police, endless wars, SWAT team raids, red light cameras, asset forfeiture schemes, overcriminalization, profit-driven private prisons, graft and corruption, or any of the other evils that masquerade as official government business these days.

What I’ve come to realize is that Americans want to engage in the reassurance ritual of voting.

They want to believe that politics matter.

They want to be persuaded that there’s a difference between the Republicans and Democrats (there’s not).

They will swear that Barack Obama has been an improvement on George W. Bush (he has not).

Most of all, they want to buy into the fantasy that when we elect a president, we’re getting someone who truly represents “we the people” rather than the corporate state (in fact, in the oligarchy that is the American police state, an elite group of wealthy donors is calling the shots).

Politics is a game, a joke, a hustle, a con, a distraction, a spectacle, a sport, and for many devout Americans, a religion. It is a political illusion aimed at persuading the citizenry that we are free, that our vote counts, and that we actually have some control over the government when in fact, we are prisoners of a police state.

In other words, it’s a sophisticated ruse aimed at keeping us divided and fighting over two parties whose priorities are exactly the same so that we don’t join forces and do what the Declaration of Independence suggests, which is to throw the whole lot out and start over.

It’s no secret that both parties support endless war, engage in out-of-control spending, ignore the citizenry’s basic rights, have no respect for the rule of law, are bought and paid for by Big Business, care most about their own power, and have a long record of expanding government and shrinking liberty. Most of all, both parties enjoy an intimate, incestuous history with each other and with the moneyed elite that rule this country.

Despite the jabs the candidates volley at each other for the benefit of the cameras, they’re a relatively chummy bunch away from the spotlight. Moreover, despite Congress’ so-called political gridlock, our elected officials seem to have no trouble finding common ground when it’s time to collectively kowtow to the megacorporations, lobbyists, defense contractors and other special interest groups to whom they have pledged their true allegiance.

So don’t be fooled by the smear campaigns and name-calling or drawn into their politics of hate. They’re just useful tactics that have been proven to engage voters and increase voter turnout while keeping the citizenry at each other’s throats.

We’re in trouble, folks.

We are living in a fantasy world carefully crafted to resemble a representative democracy.

It used to be that the cogs, wheels and gear shifts in our government machinery worked to keep our republic running smoothly. However, without our fully realizing it, the mechanism has changed. Its purpose is no longer to keep our republic running smoothly. To the contrary, this particular contraption’s purpose is to keep the corporate police state in power. Its various parts are already a corrupt part of the whole.

Just consider how insidious, incestuous and beholden to the corporate elite the various “parts” of the mechanism have become.

Congress. Perhaps the most notorious offenders and most obvious culprits in the creation of the corporate-state, Congress has proven itself to be both inept and avaricious, oblivious champions of an authoritarian system that is systematically dismantling their constituents’ fundamental rights. Long before they’re elected, Congressmen are trained to dance to the tune of their wealthy benefactors, so much so that they spend two-thirds of their time in office raising money. As Reuters reports, “For many lawmakers, the daily routine in Washington involves fundraising as much as legislating. The culture of nonstop political campaigning shapes the rhythms of daily life in Congress, as well as the landscape around the Capitol. It also means that lawmakers often spend more time listening to the concerns of the wealthy than anyone else.”

The President. What Americans want in a president and what they need are two very different things. The making of a popular president is an exercise in branding, marketing and creating alternate realities for the consumer—a.k.a., the citizenry—that allows them to buy into a fantasy about life in America that is utterly divorced from our increasingly grim reality. Take President Obama, for instance, who now enjoys greater popularity than any previous president, including the beloved Ronald Reagan. This is a president who got elected by campaigning against war, torture, surveillance only to make them hallmarks of his presidency, and yet somehow these “indiscretions” are overlooked and forgiven as long as he presents a jocular, hip façade: slow-jamming the news with Jimmy Fallon, reading mean tweets with Jimmy Kimmel, singing, dancing and being cool. In other words, to be a successful president, it doesn’t matter whether you keep your campaign promises, sell access to the Lincoln Bedroom, or march in lockstep with the Corporate State as long as you keep the feel-good vibes flowing.

The Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court—once the last refuge of justice, the one governmental body really capable of rolling back the slowly emerging tyranny enveloping America—has instead become the champion of the American police state, absolving government and corporate officials of their crimes while relentlessly punishing the average American for exercising his or her rights. Like the rest of the government, the Court has routinely prioritized profit, security, and convenience over the basic rights of the citizenry. Indeed, law professor Erwin Chemerinsky makes a compelling case that the Supreme Court, whose “justices have overwhelmingly come from positions of privilege,” almost unerringly throughout its history sides with the wealthy, the privileged, and the powerful.

The Media. Of course, this triumvirate of total control would be completely ineffective without a propaganda machine provided by the world’s largest corporations. Besides shoveling drivel down our throats at every possible moment, the so-called news agencies which are supposed to act as bulwarks against government propaganda have instead become the mouthpieces of the state. The pundits which pollute our airwaves are at best court jesters and at worst propagandists for the false reality created by the American government. When you have internet and media giants such as Google, NBC Universal, News Corporation, Turner Broadcasting, Thomson Reuters, Comcast, Time Warner, Viacom, Public Radio International and The Washington Post Company donating to the Clinton Foundation, you no longer have an independent media—what we used to refer to as the “fourth estate”—that can be trusted to hold the government accountable.

The American People. “We the people” now belong to a permanent underclass in America. It doesn’t matter what you call us—chattel, slaves, worker bees, drones, it’s all the same—what matters is that we are expected to march in lockstep with and submit to the will of the state in all matters, public and private. Through our complicity in matters large and small, we have allowed an out-of-control corporate-state apparatus to take over every element of American society.

We’re playing against a stacked deck.

The game is rigged, and “we the people” keep getting dealt the same losing hand. The people dealing the cards—the politicians, the corporations, the judges, the prosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.—have only one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and control over the citizenry, while milking us of our money and possessions.

It really doesn’t matter what you call them—Republicans, Democrats, the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that while they are dealing the cards, the deck will always be stacked in their favor.

As I make clear in my book, Battlefield America: The War on the American People, our failure to remain informed about what is taking place in our government, to know and exercise our rights, to vocally protest, to demand accountability on the part of our government representatives, and at a minimum to care about the plight of our fellow Americans has been our downfall.

Now we find ourselves once again caught up in the spectacle of another presidential election, and once again the majority of Americans are acting as if this election will make a difference and bring about change. As if the new boss will be different from the old boss.

The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls. They got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying. Lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests.

They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork…. It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. …The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice…. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on…. It’s called the American Dream, ’cause you have to be asleep to believe it.

Publication Guidelines / Reprint Permission: John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact staff@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.

OLDDOGS COMMENTS!

What a shame, what a damn waste of intellect and public appeal. I have contacted one of his family and begged her to inform John there is another alternative to pissing in the wind and I have no doubt he knows it. He is way to smart to fall for this government services corporation bull shit. Just think what he could accomplish teamed up with Anna Von Reitz and the Living Law Firm.

I hate to say it but money must be his reason for continuing to ignore the only hope American’s have. I’m not the only one who has noticed he does not publish anything without plugging his books. John, you are killing me! And abandoning your country. You could easily team up with them using a ghost name. I will even be your communication go between for free!

From the desk of Anna Von Reitz

Many people have asked me what our Living Law Firm has done or is doing for the Bundys and others involved in the Oregon Wildlife Refuge Stand-Off.

Even I have wasted time and money writing letters and making phone calls and posting on Facebook to no avail—- and just like Thomas Deegan in West Virginia, you can’t help Stubborn and Wrong.

Just recently I have had word that one of the Bundys might be starting to listen, but only because they have run out of money to pay “real” attorneys.

Sigh.

The Bundys are being prosecuted under the false presumption that they are “United States Citizens” or “citizens of the United States” when they are not.

United States Citizens have never been protected by the guarantees of The Constitution, so, as long as you agree that you are a United States Citizen— guess what? There’s no use arguing any “constitutional” defenses. And there is no use arguing that they are being wrongfully prosecuted, because as “United States Citizens” they are subject to every little jot of Federal Code and Statute. That includes “federated” State Statutes, too.

Now, have you ever seen a snake try to eat something grossly much bigger than itself so that the intended food gets stuck on its fangs? Unless some kind soul comes along and unlocks its jaws, the snake will thrash around and starve to death.

What should happen is that the Bundys and their friends should go into court and say, “Your Honor, there’s been a mistake here, and we made it. We were misinformed about several things. We were told that we had to sign up for Social Security, that it was mandated for us by our government—- and that turns out not to be the case. We were told we had to have Driver Licenses, too, and that turns out not to be true, either. We aren’t United States Citizens. We are United States Nationals so far as international affairs are concerned, and here at home we are what you call American State Nationals. We are sorry about the confusion.

Here’s the Social Security Cards we were given and the Driver Licenses, too. And here’s the Birth Certificate our parents were given as the insurance indemnity receipt guaranteeing the well-being and safety of our “cargo”. We were never told what it was until very recently. We thought it was just a record of us being born.”

All that should take about 30 seconds, cost virtually nothing, and requires only three documents.

“Now, your Honor, this has all been a big mistake— a case of mistaken identity. We must be set free and our losses made whole.”

Remember that old snake trying to eat the world? That’s the look on the judge’s face right about now. He and his cohorts have knowingly prosecuted their employers under false presumptions. Their court and the corporation they are working for are on the stick for it.

Unless they want to commit war crimes in open court—- crimes that carry the death penalty— they truly do need to do a double flip spin in the air, 180 degree flip-flop in front of God and the whole world— and release the Bundys and their friends and return all their losses, plus damages.

The Bundys and their friends actually are the Landlords who are owed the Wildlife Refuge and every other particle of land in the western states. The Federales are just employees, working under contract as property managers.

But as long as you put up with this crappola and let the Feds pretend that you are one of them and subject to their rules, you look like a small and tasty bite.

Let’s take this a little bit farther—

What if there was a man in your community who was known to be a murderer, a bully, and a thief? What if he was also so slick, so cunning, and so adept at pressuring people and buying them off and threatening them, that no matter what he does—- even murder in broad daylight— like Waco and Ruby Ridge he continues to get away with it?

Okay, what if it isn’t a man? What if it is an organized crime syndicate, set up like the mafia, operating as a corporation? And what if that corporation is operating under color of law, pretending to be part of your legitimate government simply because they have a contract to provide “governmental services”?

Hmmm?

That’s what we’ve got here. That’s what we are dealing with.

The private, for-profit corporation literally calling itself the “GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES” —- this is no joke—-is listed on Dunn and Bradstreet. And under “GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES” you find numerous subsidiaries including the “BLM” and the “FBI”.

“NORTHERN TRUST” is listed as the owner/operator of the “IRS” and the “AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION”.

Now, you can go up against these groups of criminals with fists and pitchforks, or you can object to their criminality and liquidate them—-expose them for what they are and how they are operating, bring charges against them, and “pull their charters”. Suddenly, they have no funding, no way to pay for their mercenaries, and no way to harm anyone, unless their shadowy bosses have grit enough to go one on one with Clive Bundy.

And I really don’t think they do. That’s why they are hiding behind legal pretenses and false fronts in the first place. That’s why they are so scared of guns.

So what I am very broadly suggesting—-again—-to everyone concerned, is to take a bit of advice from George V, the British Monarch primarily responsible for this latest round of thuggery on our soil—–don’t get mad. Keep calm and get even.

If any of my readers have direct contacts with the Bundy Clan, or Thomas Deegan, or Schaeffer Cox or others facing federal prosecution, please forward this blurb to their attention.

It’s a very simple, direct, and effective solution. It costs virtually nothing. It’s peaceful. Almost effortless. What more could you ask for?

And what do you have to lose?

If I am right, you get your freedom— freedom like you have never had before; you get your losses repaired, plus damages, which after what you’ve gone through would be very nice, indeed.

If I am wrong, well, there will be some British Subjects set up for the gallows of the new Nuremburg Tribunal, and you can hardly be worse off than you already are.

If you have already been tried and convicted “by mistake” submit the paperwork for a mis-trial hearing based on new information and challenge the court’s jurisdiction.

Please note that this will not work for people who legitimately are United States Citizens or “citizens of the United States”—– which includes federal civilian and military employees, African Americans, federal welfare recipients (Retirees— remember you are retired and those aren’t Social Security “Benefits” you are receiving if you paid in and were vested in the Social Security System.) or political asylum seekers or if you are knowingly and willingly operating a federal franchise corporation.

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EDUCATE THE MASSES

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson.

PATRIOTIC PERSEVERANCE

“It does not take a majority to prevail…but a rather irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” ~Samuel Adams

A HOMELESS NATION

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. Thomas Jefferson - 1802

GOOD ADVICE

UNAVOIDABLE CONCLUSION

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out...without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.” FL. Hamer

INTELLECTUAL COURAGE

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." S. Rasmussen

ARE YOU A FOOL? TAKE THE TEST!

A man is a fool who trusts his rights to lawyer, his soul to a preacher, his health to a doctor, his wealth to a banker, and his happiness to a government. By Anonymous

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

“It is only human to seek reasons for optimism, and to find comfort in self-delusion. We have to believe we're going to be "just fine", because the alternative is too painful, and painfully unacceptable”…….(Unknown)

IMMUTABLE LAWS OF HUMAN NATURE

"The only way to maintain progress without chaos within a society is to have changeable social values that are tied to unchanging principles."
Marilyn Barnewall